Discernment

[Plenum]

Are there practical tips you use for "spiritual hygiene" and making sure you make only positive contact ?

I think the key thing, and such a simple one, is to re-affirm one's true motivation.  

The motivation is the thing that sets the 'frequency', and allows these other 'influences' to become present in one's consciousness.

I think one should also realise that one is always under a sea of influences, even if a person doesn't recognise the external spiritual source - whether that be guides, or single entities, or groups.  Our consciousness lives in a sea of music, and how we are 'tuned', makes these aspects more prominent.

So to me, spiritual hygiene would be more consciously aware of what you are seeking, and making that explicit.

Once it can be 'condensed' into compact statements of 'truth', that really sets a tuning fork in the mind, and a lot of the other distractions can fall away.

Basically - this kind of 'clarity' can help combat (and sometimes actually makes more obvious) - the kind of temptations that one is prone to.

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I was wondering if you or others have a couple references for trustworthy sites and or helpful invocations?

I wouldn't really be able to advise there.  I think it all has to be based on where one's motivations lie.

But if there was some general 'starting point', I would first re-affirm certain qualities of the Higher Self, especially as Ra condensed them.  That is, the infinite love, wisdom, and power that we are each able to draw upon, given focussed cirumstances.

That alone, can sometimes put oneself in a much better position on which to gain perspective on a situation.

The Higher Self also doesn't necessarily have to be invoked by a distinct 'name' or even by the term itself.  It's more the quality of the concept behind the person trying to comprehend it.  Basically, what I'm try to say, is that if you understand (and agree with) Ra's description of the Higher Self, then that itself can be a sharp beacon, or reference point from which to access it.  Other people (in other spiritual circles) may understand the same word ('Higher Self') in a different way, and so when they try to 'invoke' it, they are tapping into a different quality, or subset of Beingness.  That's why the quality of the Tradition and the Philosophy sets the 'context' for all this kind of seeking.

But yeah, that's probably a handy starting point; and one that is within reach for most folks.